


Glistening Chest Guy & Hot-headed Prissy Genius

by anassa_anemou



Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Kid Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-16
Updated: 2013-08-16
Packaged: 2017-12-23 17:18:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,265
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/929086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anassa_anemou/pseuds/anassa_anemou
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony finds Mister Glistening Chest Guy in a dirty road city when his car dies in the middle of nowhere. The thing is, Clint Barton is more than his unique physique or his smirking face.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Written for the Rare Pairs Fest 2013.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Glistening Chest Guy & Hot-headed Prissy Genius

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Chosenfire](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chosenfire/gifts).



> I end up doing a mix-matched fic of several details of your letter, because the story didn't want me to do what I wanted. I hope you like it! 
> 
> *I may have been slightly blinded for many shiny prompts, and when I have the time, I want to go back at them; I wanted to do some treats too, but I end up with a lot of things to turn in this week and it was impossible. *

The city is nothing like Pepper had described to Tony, a dirty corner in the world, hidden from civilization and reeking of redneck and platter. And it wasn’t as if Tony couldn’t fix the damn car, the problem was that he had almost no battery left for his arc and this was the only city in miles. Pepper told him to go to the circus, and why in hell should he ask circus people for help? The last time Tony had been to one of them his mother told him to keep away from carny people, saying they were all lying thieves.

Today, all grown up and shaken after Afghanistan, Tony knew those people saw his mother as an opportunity to make extra cash: something that was missing if the kid that stole his mother purse had any say in it; Tony still remembers the ragged clothes and the look that said sorry for being caught, but not for stealing. The owner had apologize, but didn’t do anything more than send the kid away with a stern talk, Tony’s mother wanted to call the police, but the guy reminded her they would be three towns over in a matter of minutes and they wouldn’t come back for a woman.

Maria was wearing a purple dress, made of cotton, straight and worn, to not be noticed by people, because Howard didn’t want her out of the house and Tony, still fond of her mother, had begged to go to the little circus he saw near Harlem. At the time, his mother was still a proper mother, sober and participative, even loving, if her cold manners allowed, so she went and even if she didn’t talk to him for a few months after, it became Tony’s best memory of her.

Getting closer to the trailer, a clown pointed at him when he asked for the owner, it looks just like the one he entered with his mother; Tony shakes his head, this is not the time to think about Maria, he needs a pump from their generator as soon as possible. He knocks once, twice and a third time before a short and taciturn man answers the door. _Good grief!_ Tony thinks, if it was a fat man it would have roused more memories or made a clichê.

“What do you want?” The man looks grumpy, more than normal and Tony bites his tongue to not antagonize the man, there will be plenty of time to do it after his heart is safe, or as safe as possible with the jumble of saraphanel wanting to shred it.

“My lovely secretary called you for a little favor? If you direct me to the generator, I will be out of your hair, elegantly, in a sec. ” Tony grins and the man ruffs, yelling for someone called Hawk, which, yes he get they are at a circus, so why not a bit of creativity? He bets the man does a trick that requires precision, probably throwing knives or something like that. 

The vision that greets him is one Tony is sure he won’t forget in a long time, the man that comes in the trailer direction has dirty blond, bordering on chocolate hair, with the most beautiful grey|blue|green eyes he had ever seen and an elegant poise, even if he is only wearing dirty jeans and flip-flops and fists wrappers around his wrists. His chest tanned and glistening in the sun, and isn’t he a pretty picture?

He looks back to the trailer, missing the interaction between the man and the owner, which probably didn’t involve words, because Tony is pretty sure he hadn't heard anything. In the next second, the circus owner is pushing him outside, making him almost topple in the stairs, as he leaves his position from the door and goes back into the parking lot, where all trailers seem to make an organized parallel plant. The man is standing a few feet from Tony, looking bored, so Tony does what he does best, start talking a million per hour.

“Well, isn’t a nice look you got there, circus-chic I assume? Most men wouldn’t walk around unprotected like that, who knows if a plane crashes and the debris hit you or if the birds are attracted to the north instead of the south and the flock just needs some reliving? You wouldn’t want to be covered in poop, now would you? ” Tony sees the man smirk and it’s a nice smirk, not like his, because his smirk is the best of all smirks, but the man looks even prettier smirking and if he wasn’t in a severe need for a good electric pump, he would certainly make the moves.

“It’s nice you thought about my chest for so long, but the boss said something about needing a jump start for your car?” He cocks his head to the side and the smirk turns into a grin when Tony puts a hand to his chest, playfully shoving him back.

“Just take me to the generator, and afterwards we can discuss the status of your chest.” The man doesn’t say anything, just starts walking away from the trailer and Tony walks three steps behind, eyes focused at the muscled back and the dimples near the pants’ rim. He takes his glasses and looks around - there aren’t many people - one or two women washing clothes and three kids playing with hops on the floor, trying to make them run in a circle without dropping to the floor.

They walk calmly to the outskirts of the trailer’s lines, finding an old truck, and the man opens the door to the generator, so Tony hops in and takes a look. It’s not ideal, but it’s better than asking permission to the town mayor and making to the news. He would have used not so proper resources, but this is literally in the middle of nowhere, a man rooked to a post or to the town energy supply in the middle of the day would draw attention. And Tony had a spare arc, and twenty or so of energy before he called Pepper, which should guarantee a few hours, probably until night, but then he would have to sleep in town, since his car would need more than a few hours of fixing. Tony swears it’s the last time he buys cars from concessionaires, because he doesn’t want people to know his plate, next time he will build a damn car or at least do a thorough revision himself.

“Are you done with the snotty evaluation? We still need to tow your car, thought I bet my truck could do the trick without needing to mess with the monster. ” Glistening Chest Guy looks amused when Tony jumps and almost falls on his bum, especially when he flips the bird and pulls his backpack to his front, pretending he had been aiming to sit in the first place. Tony even puts his glasses inside, trying to distract his companionship.

“My car doesn’t need a jump start, I need a jump start, or better, I need a battery charging and this is none of your business, so, shoo, I will close the doors when I’m finished.” Tony won’t take his shirt off in front of the guy, if Pepper, who he knows, trusts and likes can’t look at the thing again, because Tony doesn’t let her, this carny absolutely won’t. 

“The boss won’t be happy with you messing around the truck without supervision, but do whatever you want, Stark. I will close the doors and you can lit the light with that switch.” Glistening Chest Guy, who apparently knows who he is, points to a point above his head and starts closing the door, Tony jumps just in time to jam his finger into the switch before the last light from outside is swollen by the truck doors closing.

Tony hates how his palms start to sweat and he needs to rub them several times in his thighs, trying to get rid of the moisture. This needs to be done fast and properly, reducing his time inside this trap; so he pulls the backpack from the floor and grabs the extensions, snapping them in the generator, and removing his shirt soon after. Once he secures the connection with the arc, he sits on the floor and fishes his pad in the backpack, hoping to distract himself with it.

“No need to panic, there isn’t any space for people to hide in here, just a gigantic generator and Glistening Chest Guy outside, being a prick.” Tony murmurs lowly and starts moving past messages from Pepper and the Board, he won’t read them, not now, preferentially never, but he can scroll through them and be quiet.

The light in the truck is provided by a single bulb, enough for someone to have some leeway as the repairs are made or, if the mattress resting against the other wall is enough data to make a conclusion, for someone to do small ablutions before sleeping. Tony wonders why people still live like this, crammed in trucks and trailers, moving from city to city, depending on people’s nostalgia and good willing to survive. 

His father was rather fond of the circus and kept some tokens of a time when, without television, the great circus were the only entertainment. Not that Howard spoke much about the time from the war to the seventies, but Tony knew, looking at the things storaged, that his father must have cared for them, after all, the big top was neatly folded, and aired each three months and the equipment continued to be polished and painted. 

“Are you crazy? Why the hell did you rooke that to you, are you trying to get killed?” Tony looked startled to the man approaching him, for a second he could see one of his captors looking at him, from the half light, until he shook his head and put the discarded shirt on top of the arc.

“I told you I needed a battery charge, and if I’m correct your boss is being paid very well to let me use the generator as I see fit.” Tony stressed the pronoun and looked defiantly to the man, that now was staring incredulously at him. 

“I didn’t want to believe in the rumors, but apparently it wasn’t only the armor you created.” He pushed the mattress down and sat, crossing his ankles. “I’m Clint, or Barton if you prefer, I think after I saw that, we can call each other with first names, instead of calling me Glistening Chest Guy or when I called you Hot-headed prissy genius and gigantean head.”

Clint’s was looking amused again and Tony chuckled to himself, not many people would talk to him like that, but it was fine, he preferred the insult and the joke to the fear most people started to have of his armor or how they called him Merchant of Death before. He returned the gesture, telling Clint to call him Tony, before falling to silence. Just the man’s presence was enough to pull him out of his mind set, he wasn’t in the cave anymore and one hour or so of energy would get him fine to go fix the car and get back on the road. It was also a good opportunity to send a request to Jarvis on his pad: if he got the name, he could put a profile and see who Clint had been before ending up in the circus.

“So, what is a man like you doing in a city like this? We almost didn’t stop and went straight to Dallas, but the boss wanted to hire someone to fix the big top.” Clint had his eyes closed, trusting, or at least knowing Tony wouldn’t attack when he needed the energy more than anything else.

“Needed some time to travel around, unnoticed and... I don’t need to explain myself. ”

“You don’t, but you could, or not. I don’t care.” Clint looked distracted outside and Tony started reading the pages Jarvis sent back at him.

Clint Barton had a no-show childhood, no records of school or previous address, only showing up later on, in the Interpol's, CIA’s and the Russian security program. Spy and assassin, S.H.I.E.L.D tried to hook him up more than one time, but he refused all times, disappearing soon after. For a good looking and almost normal type of guy, Tony finds intriguing such a large résumé, filled with possible people he murdered and the several world-wide appearances.

“Would you like to talk about your assassin days?” Tony blurts and waits for some sort of emotion and Clint only gets a slight twitch on the jaw, before opening his whole face in a smile.

“Guess genius and ass definitely should be in your name. I’m not going to torture you for info, my method is normally hit and flee. Also, blood is awful to clean up and being on the road never leaves much time for laundry.” It’s careless, the way he speaks, and Tony can appreciate the humor, he definitely likes this guy: hot, funny, dry humor and the background that stands up like a puzzle he wants to solve. 

“True, doing laundry is never a good thing, I even created a robot to do that for me at college, but he preferred to mix my drinks all wrong. Dummy really makes justice to his name.”

“You named your robot, that you built…at college, Dummy?”

“Why not? He was one of the first one’s I created, You strangely got worse, even if I created it later.” Tony locks his pad and drops it to his lap, if he will have a conversation, it will be looking at the man’s eyes. “So, what’s your story? The sniper thing got boring?”

“It’s never boring, and I had my tricks. After a while, I had other things to keep my mind on.” Tony doesn’t ask what, and Clint goes back to look at the outside, there is something he keeps on checking and Tony realizes it’s the people moving in the outskirts of the truck; the circus is starting to prep the matinee show.

“Is it a girl? Because I can see the whole melodramatic romantic thing working here: boy is bad, boy ends in a dramatic and violent life, boy meets girl, girl falls in love, boy falls in love, boy leaves big horrible boss for girl, girl either dies or finds another boy and boy ends up in bar, ship, circus without life perspectives.” 

Clint doesn’t seem to hear Tony, or at least, he is focusing on something else and damn, if Tony Stark will lose attention to people running around. So, calmly, he shifts around and leans enough to wave a hand in front of the other man’s face, until Clint grabs it and pushes Tony back to his bum, sitting one more time in the opposite wall of the truck.

“Would you like a job offer? I could offer a job in any Stark Industry, and maybe then, in a very professional job interview my assistant can discover why you end up here. See, Pepper is great at doing the disapproving face and making you tell her things you don’t want to tell.” That gets Clint’s attention back and he frowns before getting a tiny twink in his eye; Tony wonders if in his missions Clint ever had to intimidate anyone, because that gleam is certainly evil.

“A job, you say? And where would you put me to work?” Clint gets up and out of the truck, pulling one of the doors, and blocking Tony’s view, but not before he gets a glimpse of a little girl moving of his line of vision. So, it’s not a woman and Tony has no qualms in asking if the girl is Clint’s, especially when the man coughs and tries to maintain the cool and friendly face, when Tony can see the first signs of tenseness.

“Any sort of job, cleaning, security, spying Hammer, though that one is useless, because it’s normally him spying me and trying to copy my things. Or, I could have you in my harem, you are awfully pretty.” Tony jokes and at Clint’s raised eyebrow grins bigger than before, knowing it’s the time for the kill. “I bet anything I offer it’s better than living on the road, with a kid and no space to decide if your ass is touching this or that side of the trailer.”

Tony doesn’t expect Clint to accept, he wants to hear the excuses or the brushing off that normally follows when he either offends people or flirt with them, but he only gets a nod, before Clint is walking away from the truck, in the same direction the little girl went. Good, Tony thinks, now he has to stay alone in the truck again, and this time without the privacy of the closed doors. He really should think about things before saying them.

***

The next time Tony sees Clint, it’s at the night’s show, doing an elaborated archery sketch, full on, with fire, apples, and anything else his helper brings him. The little girl helping is of course the one Tony has seen before, strawberry blond hair, grey eyes and a good balance while she walks the monobike and gives Clint things that she pulls from a large chest. He wasn’t going to stay in town, but it’s not like he really has anything to do and Miami will be there tomorrow or next month and this guy really intrigues him, so he can stay and try to catch both of them in the artists out; he made sure to check where it was before going to the stands.

All in all, is good entertainment, one Tony has lost contact over the years and he will have a laugh when he tells his adventures to Pepper. She is, of course, mad because he left the company in her hands to deal with, while he travels from New York to Miami, going back to pack anything he wants and will need in the new Tower.

It’s funny how Clint’s little girl finds him, after the show ended, leaning against the back flap, from where all artists seem to come and go from the center ring. She stops by his side and asks if he wants gum, while popping a big pink blob and pulling back into her mouth for another one. 

“I see Maddie found you.” Tony looks up after popping the gum in his mouth, he didn’t notice before, but Clint has eyeliner in his eyes and it makes him even more exotic in Tony’s eyes.

“I wanted to meet him, daddy, if we are going to live with him, I had to know if he was a good guy.” Maddie looks up defiantly and Tony laughs, she is tiny and pretty, but she sure has a temper; it reminded him of Pepper, who probably was just as willful as this one as a kid.

“Good thinking, Miss Mads. I thinking your dad appreciates it, even if his face is all scowly.” Maddie nods at him and starts pulling Tony’s and her dad’s hands, making them follow her around the lot.

They find an empty and battered trailer, with blue paint all scratched and Maddie enters it. Tony and Clint have to stop and maneuver, letting one follow after the other to the minuscule space. Inside there isn’t much, a bed with yellow bedding, a small table, some books in a box, that has little toys inside and a door for the driver cabin. Clint sits with Maddie in his lap and Tony sits across from them in a bench bolted to the wall the other man signs to.

“Do you have a big bath? Daddy said we could get a bath if we left the circus. I bet it should be really nice to take a warm bath or even a shower and then go to a bed that doesn’t move.” Maddie looks really proud of her question, even if Clint is, for the first time, slightly embarrassed. 

“I have a nice bath and showers and bed that don’t move. I think a TV would probably be a good touch too, right?” Maddie shakes her head effusively and Tony is almost waiting for her to roll from her neck.

Clint just smiles and lets his daughter talk about the time they went to a movie theater on the street and saw Spongebob and Mickey and Nemo. She smiles when Clint rubs her nose, taking away some gum that stock to it when another blob burst. They make a good picture, lovely even and stings Tony to hear that the thing Maddie wants best in Tony’s place is for her daddy to be happy. 

“I will be happy in whatever place Madeleine is, and you are going with me aren’t you, Miss Madeleine Barton?” Tony howlers with laugh when she squirms out of her dad’s arms and kicks him in the leg, yelling:

“If you let me behind I will find you anywhere and kill you stupid in your sleep.” And then she is running out of the trailer saying she forgot to give Tommy gum and if they are going away, he can’t be left without it. “It’s just a goodbye gift, dad!”

“She’d be a good comedian, it’s been years since I laughed this hard.” Clint is again smirking at him and Tony stops mid-laugh, coughing. “So, you are accepting a job offer? Even if you don’t know the city or what I will ask you to do?”

Leaning into Tony space, Clint brushes a hand on top of his leg, pretending to reach for a book in the box besides Tony; it’s open flirting, no pretense. If he wasn’t sure Madeleine could be back at any moment, running inside and catching them Tony would love to kiss away the smugness in Clint face. 

“I already work for you, Stark. Your assistant, Pepper, the one that gave my boss a call offered a security job. I’ll be following you to Miami and then back to New York.” Clint pretends to read the book, passing pages and letting the news sink into Tony.

For his part, Tony doesn’t even ask Clint anything, he calls Pepper, and demands to know why did she hire someone she doesn’t even know to do the job. It’s then, as Pepper talks calmly, he realizes that he been played all around. Pepper hired Clint, someone that Agent Coulson knows well, because he was near Tony current location. Clint, as Tony had been sure before, when his boss called him Hawk, has excellent sight, which resulted in him shooting something in his engine two stops before.

It’s very ingenious, one of his inventions the military used for terrorists that fled the scene: the equipment would only make the engine stop if triggered, and Clint had plenty of time to go back to the circus lot, when Tony stopped to sleep in the day prior to this one. He doesn’t know if he should be scared of Coulson, Pepper or Natalie, but he will take a closer look into their interactions when he is back, because this is a little over the top to make him accept someone following him around. Though, Pepper played him well, making him get interested in a pretty guy, someone she was sure he would want to dig for information.

“Is the kid yours or she is just part of the roose?” Tony finally speaks after shutting Pepper window in the pad and putting it back in his backpack.

“She is mine, but she knew I was working and you know, she wanted in. Maddies loves to trick people with her innocence.” Clint smiles at him, this time is not a grin or a smirk, is just a fond smile, that smile parents have when their kids do something that follows their steps. “Don’t worry, we’ll go with you, pretend to be your friend and his daughter and when you reach New York I’ll find somewhere to stay or I can crash in Coulson couch, he still owes me one.”

Tony wants to say no, bang the door in the guy’s face, send a stupid e-mail to Pepper and disappear again, but he gets it. This is Pepper’s way of saying she worries, that she is sorry for wanting the normal live, for not wanting to be Iron Man’s girl. It’s the most free he has been since Afghanistan or Vanko, and she is saying go, but be save. He scrunches his nose and gets up, he is getting soft and mature, thinking all of those things.

“Ok, Barton, I need to find somewhere to crash, since you fucked my car, tomorrow we will see if this, between us, will work out.”

When Clint shouts after his retreating back he can sleep in the car, that is fixed and parked near the generator truck, Tony lifts his chin up and starts thinking about revenge. Pepper is awfully in love with her shoes, he is sure he can plan something ahead. He won’t think about Clint or Madeleine or the fact it’s been decades he last slept in a back seat of a car. 

Tomorrow he will continue his drive. And of course, he will think what can he do to Coulson and Clint, to get even.


End file.
